Uninor's 1cr disconnected customers can opt for number portability

New Delhi: Over 1 crore Uninor customers, whose mobile phone services have been disconnected as the company shut down operations, can opt for mobile number portability service and switch to other operators, said a top government official.

"The customers can certainly make request for porting out their number...that is something we will try and work out," Telecom Secretary R Chandrashekhar said here in response to a query over the fate of troubled customers of Uninor.

Uninor had to shut down operations across the country, except six telecom circles. Reuters

Uninor had to shut down operations across the country, except six telecom circles, following the Supreme Court order last year in the 2G spectrum allocation case. Later, the apex court asked telecom operators who did not participate or win spectrum in the November 2012 auction to close their operations immediately.

As per data released by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, the company had over 4 crore customers at the end of December. Of these around 3 crore customers were in six service areas-Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Maharashtra (excluding Mumbai), Uttar Pradesh East and West, where the company won the spectrum to continue its operations.

Meanwhile, Uninor said: "With the exception of 14 lakh customers in Mumbai, majority of the other numbers reflected in the Trai report are inactive numbers that we are required to keep on record for a given duration."

The company shut down Mumbai operations on Saturday. Uninor said that most of the customers are in circles

where it has "already scaled down months ago last year and been able to inform customers well in advance and majority have ported out".

As per Trai data, Uninor had over 37 lakh customers in West Bengal (excluding Kolkata), 17.7 lakh customers in Kolkata and over 10 lakh customers in Karnataka. Uninor reported to over 1 lakh customers in Kerala and Orissa in December 2012.

The company issued notices to customers in Kolkata and West Bengal service area in mid-December about closure of its operations. The exact number of subscribers on company's network in January was not provided by Uninor.